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SCHOOLARTSMAGAZINE.COM 37
featuring the same images as the post-
cards, which included the name of the
artist, the title of the work, and the
date it was made. These answer sheets
were printed in color and slipped into
sheet protectors.
Questioning, Deductive Reasoning,
and Art Vocabulary (10 minutes)
Before we started, we had a brief
art vocabulary refresher to ensure
a common language for identifying
and categorizing art. Prior to the
activity, a group of students made a
three-minute movie titled I Am Art,
which features an original song and
clever visuals to quickly define art
terms. We then view a short, inter
-
active video created by my student
teacher, Matthew. In the video, Mat
-
thew's glasses hold an art postcard
that only we can see. While watching
the video, we all pretend to be his
partner. He models good question
-
ing. "Am I a landscape?" We respond
"No," since his mystery image is a
portrait. He continues while sharing
his deductive reasoning.
Finally, before starting the actual
game, I briefly review rules of play:
• Yes/no answers only, take turns,
and when a specific response such
as "Am I American Gothic by Grant
Wood?" is made, the game ends.
• Players either win that round or
lose. This encourages students to
narrow their choices with thought-
ful questioning, to look closely at
their partner's masterpiece, and
think about how to improve their
strategies as they play.
Play the Game (25 minutes)
I matched each student with a partner
and provided glasses and an answer
sheet for both students. An art image is
placed on each set of glasses (no peek
-
It's an exciting and supportive
experience as we cheer for
students responding to art
with appropriate vocabular
and deductive reasoning.
ing), and the questioning begins. After
making a final response, game pieces
are removed and held up. This is the
signal for me to replace the postcard.
I try to have a few more game
pieces than students so that I can
swap out the art and they can con-
tinue playing. This keeps me cir-
culating throughout the classroom,
replacing art, listening to questioning
skills, redirecting, encouraging, and
congratulating until it's time to stop.
Ultimate Challenge Round
(10 minutes)
In my artroom, I have six tables with
four chairs each. Each chair has a
number, so we spin a "magic wheel"
(see Web Link) to determine a hot seat.
These six students represent their
table in the ultimate challenge round.
One at a time, students ask a question
about the mystery art piece. If they
are incorrect, they are eliminated.
If they are correct, they continue to
play. It's an exciting and supportive
experience as we cheer for students
responding to art with appropriate
vocabulary and deductive reasoning.
The Real Reward
When I took these fourth-graders to
the AIC, they were thrilled to rec
-
ognize their game pieces in person.
I heard students exclaim, "I know
that landscape!" and "No way!
The Seurat is much bigger than I
thought!" While passing through a
gallery of paintings from the Spanish
Renaissance, we all laughed when
one student announced, "Hey, I had
that El Greco on my head!"
Tricia Fuglestad teaches art at Dryden
Elementary School, in Arlington Heights,
Illinois. Tricia_ Fugelstad@yahoo.com
N A T I O N A L S T A N D A R D
Responding: Understanding and eval-
uating how the arts convey meaning.
W E B L I N K
drydenart.weebly.com/fugleblog/
spect-art-acles-look-think-question
Students were given answer sheets which included the name
of the artist, the title of the work, and the date it was made.